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LITTLE ROCK, Ack, — The Ku Klux Klan is stirring into the open again in Arkansas after a hiber nation of more than a quarter of a ceentury. The awakening, which has been marked by comic inter-fraternal quarreling, has caused some talk but no visible excitement among the state’s heodless residents. On the official level the Klan’s attempted revival has met the cald shoulder, from the governor on “own. Even the arch - segrega tionist Capital Citizens Council of Little Rock has remained aloof. All of which probably means the Klan can expect only narrow acceptance in Arkansas, if it manages to revive at all. On the positive side, the Klan's gains are hard to assess. It has received considerable publicity in recent weeks. It has announced membership drives and boasted of hundreds of converts. But in solid statistics there is Title to report. Asked about the size of their memberships, the Klan leaders rely on their mystic codes and say that information is secret. The only known figure thus far is the size of the membership of one Klan group in Little Rock. The Grand Dragon of the Ar kansas Realm of the U. S. Klans, Knights of the Wu Klux Klan, said Monday that his group had only one member in Sith Rock — himself. The Grand Dragon is a barber named A. C. Hightower. His or ganization, chartered June 4 by the secretary of state, is the lat est and best publicized of hres ISlan groups had have broken into the news in Arkansas his spring. The various groups have spent much of their public energies be fitting one another, Hightower al ready has taken a turn at Mailing the other two. So at thin point not one of the Klan groups trying to organize in Arkansas has been publicly en dorsed by any other group or public official, Klan or non-Klan. When Gov. Orval Faubus heard of the latest Klan charter he said, “E dant want anything to do with them. Attorney General Bruce Bennett, who would like to be governor and who has been more extremely se gregationist than Faubus, said in a sfreech that Arkansas should repudiate the Klan. He declared, “Ku Klux Klan, You are not welcome in Arkan sas. Prosecutor J. Frank Holt of Pu laski County (Little Rock) warned that Arkansas had strong laws to control mischief and violence and that he intended to enforce them in Pulaski County. There have been no cress barn ings, midnight floggings or any of the didas traditionally associat ed with the Klan of 25 t o 30 years ago. Hightower, for one, has con demned any such carryings on and said his group wouldn't stand for it. He won't say what his Klan is in business for except that it “has a job to do.” He has made no statements on race but there is no doubt that the group springs from the racial controversy, which has been chaut ed with anti - Semitism in recent months. Another Klan group, the Asso ciation of Arkansas Klans, has said in its posters that the KKK must stand for white supremacy, segregation, “protection of pure womanhood” and the Christian religion, among other things. The third group mentioned in Arkansas recently is the original Sku Klux Klan, headed by R. E. Davis of Dallas. The last previous Klan activity in Arkansas was in the 1920s. (Copyright. 1953, Chicaze Daily News)
Newspaper Details
Corpus Christi Times
Corpus Christi, Texas, US
Fri, Jun 12, 1959
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Grant E.
USA 26 May 2026
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